Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Interview @ E3

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Game Watcher interviewed Julien Desourteaux about the Action RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - An Interview With Cyanide Studio's Julien Desourteaux [E3 2017]
The World of Darkness series of games and entertainment has always been a rich tapestry of lore and imagination that has allowed gamers to undertake the roles of many mythical creatures of the night in various unique settings. Most people are probably familiar with the popular role-playing games, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, but these are just a couple entries in a grand library of great games that have come from White Wolf Publishing. Fortunately, White Wolf has teamed up with Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studios to bring another of their grand franchises to PCs and consoles. This time, it's Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

In a world where various factions are ushering the destruction of nature, werewolves stand as the primal bastions against the end of the world. What began as a pen and paper role-playing experience is now becoming an interactive journey that will have players delving deep into the powers of the werewolf to protect the natural and spiritual world. At E3 2017, we caught up to Cyanide Studio game designer Julien Desourteaux to speak about how he and his team are bringing Werewolf new life as a video game. Desourteaux shared the interesting world of Werewolf with us, as well as how players will take on the role of the Garou to defend the forces of nature, or give into their bestial blood and wreak havoc.

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GameWatcher: The original context of Werewolf is that there is cataclysmic event known as The Apocalypse that the werewolves, known previously in the series as the Garou, are fighting against, right?

Desourteaux: Correct. In the original pen and paper game, their mission was to kill those who would move the world towards the Apocalypse either wittingly or unwittingly. It's always been sort of a fiction that plays at the edge of reality where these mythical creatures are fighting a problem very much inspired by real-world issues. For the purpose of our game, we're going with an action-RPG to convey that world. It's based upon a lot of the rules of the pen and paper game, but we're reworking the gameplay mechanics to make it a far more moving and visceral thing.

GameWatcher: Could you expand upon that? What kind of mechanics will players be using as they step into the fur and claws of the Garou?

Desourteaux: So the main three mechanics behind Werewolf: The Apocalypse are combat, exploration, and interaction, and at the center of all of that is rage management. Rage is a factor that has to be maintained by the player because if the Garou's rage gets out of control, they will frenzy. There are pros and cons to that. Certainly it's great for combat, but there could be consequences as well. For example, you won't be able to tell friend from foe. You will fight all present and that could lead to attacking an ally. You can't go back until there are no more threats present. Likewise, if you're in dialogue with a character and you're overcome by rage, your character might eviscerate an important character.

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